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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD1

Thematic Dossier - Emerging Powers In-between Global

and Regional Organizations

December 2025

EDITORIAL

RAHMAN DAG

rahman.dag@gmail.com

He got his master’s degree from the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies, SOAS

(School of Oriental and African Studies) and was then awarded with Philosophy of Doctorate

degree from Exeter University, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, in the field of Middle East

Politics. Additionally, he is a founding member of CESRAN International (www.cesran.org) and

serves as the Deputy Director of the organisation. He is currently working at the Middle East

Institute, Marmara University (Turkey) and is the head of the Political Economy of the Middle

East department in the Institution. His latest interest is in great power politics and the

accommodation of rising or regional powers into the world politics and international system. He

recently published two edited books on “great power politics in greater Eurasia” and “trends and

transformation in world politics”. His current research interests focus on changes in international

systems and their international and regional implications.

ÖZGÜR TÜFEKÇI

ozgurtufekci@ktu.edu.tr

Ozgur Tufekci is an Associate Professor of International Relations at Karadeniz Technical

University (Turkey). He is also the founder and Director-General of CESRAN International, a UK-

based think-tank (www.cesran.org), ranked among the world’s “Best Independent Think Tanks”.

He holds an MA in International Studies from the University of Sheffield, UK and a PhD in

Sociology and International Relations from Coventry University, UK. His primary research

interests are [Turkish] Eurasianism, Nation-Building, Theories of Nationalism, Geopolitical

Studies, Rising Powers and Regionalism. Currently, he is teaching at undergraduate, graduate

and doctoral levels, focusing on methodological foundations of regionalism, rising powers and

nationalism. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development

(www.therestjournal.com) and Novus Orbis: Journal of Politics and International Relations

(https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/novusorbis).

How to cite this article

Dag, Rahman & Tüfekçi, Özgür (2025). Editorial - Presentation And Framing. Janus.net, e-journal

of international relations. Thematic Dossier - Emerging Powers In-between Global and Regional

Organizations, VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD1, December 2025, pp. 3-5. https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-

7251.DT0525ED

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD1

Thematic Dossier - Emerging Powers In-between Global and Regional Organizations

December 2025, pp. 3-5

Editorial - Presentation and Framing

Rahman Dag, Özgür Tüfekçi

PRESENTATION AND FRAMING

RAHMAN DAG

ÖZGÜR TÜFEKÇI

Most of the states in the world are members of global institutions, and this has been

considered as proof for being accepted as an equal member of international politics and

society. This is moslty framed for membership in the United Nations. Every UN member

has a vote in the assembly, but in practical and binding decisions are made in the UN

Security Council, consisting of five permanent and 10 non-permenant members. Since

the UN Security Council has not been able to solve the conflicts in the world, it is criticised

as being a platform for great power competition accoring to their national interest rather

than being a source of implementation of international law and justice in the world. Given

that this criticism started in the late Cold War era, several states initiated alternate

platforms including bilateral agreements, taking actions by themselves if they can and

also leading regional organizations to work out as a block to get their voice heard.

Some of them, currently conceptualised as emerging powers, rising powers or middle

powers in the literature, have established their own regional institutions. Since the mid-

Cold War years, there has been a tendency to form regional organisations in the name

of regional economic development and particular identities (primarily regional). It is

evident that most emerging powers or a block of states, seeking to provide an alternative

way of politics against the Western hegemony or get sick of being stuck between

great/super powers, engage with regional organisations. They either form a regional

organisation or become a member of regional organisations. The problematic of this

special issue is that, suppose membership in a global institution is adequate for states to

secure their national interests, especially economic and political interests, in cooperation

with a global organization that most of the states are members of. Why are there

alternative regional institutions? Of course, there might be different answers to that

question. Some believe that the regionalisation of international institutions does not

contradict the global ones but actually complete and coordinate each other for specific

cases, as global institutions can not cover every single issue which might have a regional

origin. However, it is evident, once they look at their charters, that regional dimensions

are at the core. Therefore, it can be considered as evidence for the argument that global

institutions serve the global powers and do not take national interests or the security of

middle or small powers into account. Either way, the proliferation of regional institutions

is legitimised and logically acceptable in international world politics. As Panetta (2015:

81) suggests, “the creation of integrated regional areas seems to be the “postmodern

passport to globalization”, especially from a politico-economic perspective.

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD1

Thematic Dossier - Emerging Powers In-between Global and Regional Organizations

December 2025, pp. 3-5

Editorial - Presentation and Framing

Rahman Dag, Özgür Tüfekçi

In current world politics, security is not just military protection but has been extended to

numerous aspects, and there is no way that one or a set of states can provide such

security. Therefore, regional integration, economic development, and political and

military alliances have played a significant role in the state’s foreign policies. Even though

these initiatives cannot be considered as regional institutions that would end up as an

alternative international system, they can be regarded as a current one. The current

international system is a “not yet fully established multi-polarity” as there is no consensus

on which states constitute a polarity or how many polarities we have in world politics. It

means that almost every single state in current world politics instrumentalises

international institutions to protect their national interest and security via bi-lateral

agreements, regional organisations and international (global) institutions at the same

time. While doing that, they place regional institutions at the centre, do not withdraw

from the global institutions, and restrain themselves from signing bilateral agreements

for specific issues.

Under these circumstances, this special issue intends to cover emerging powers’ policies

towards international (global) and regional organisations. Do emerging powers use

regional organizations as leverage against the global order or institutions? Are they used

as a collaborator between international and regional politics as a sort of check and

balance? Or is this an indication of regionalisation of world politics, and thus, emerging

powers seek to establish their own sphere of influence? Relying on these questions, this

special issue intends to cover emerging powers’ efforts to be part of a regional

organisation while not withdrawing from the global ones. There might be an issue of

definition for what an emerging power is, but most of the literature agrees on an

adequate number of candidates, such as India, Russia, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa,

Indonesia, Iran, and possible emerging powers can be given space in this special issue.

Receiving 90 submissions to the special issue indicates that there are quite number of

academics this dilemma between international (global) and regional institutions. Just 25

of them successfully completed the review process and got accepted to have a place in

this special issue. Almost all of the papers in this special issue touch upon an aspect of

regional organisations questioning their purpose, influence of their presence in world

politics. Several of them focus on a single regional organisation as what they stand for.

As editors, we have realised that specific regional organisations have an effect of igniting

more collaborations or a conflictual nature against others. That is another aspect that

needs to be addressed with another pile of work but it is better just to raise the question

of how regionalisation of world politics via regional organizations shares the emerging

international system. It is for sure that there is no currently an embedded international

system as in the Cold War and how do current world politics accommodate this tendency.

We would like to thank all contributors in this special issue and the Journal administration

for letting us work on such a signficant issue and provide an opportunity to reach out.